Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1313 – Activating Mine, Plotting India
Before Old Chen left, Ouyang Shuo asked about a certain matter, “Azure Badge also has secret members within Great Xia, right?”
“…”
Old Chen did not know how to reply to that.
Ouyang Shuo smiled and directly said, “If Azure Badge could pass that list to me, our sides will have a chance of continuing to work together. After all, no one hopes to have a bunch of time bombs by their side, right?”
The storm Azure Badge caused in Europe allowed people to realize the power they had hidden around. Naturally, this increased the wariness of Ouyang Shuo and Jack.
This was also one of the aftereffects.
In comparison, Ouyang Shuo was less worried about the Azure Badge secret members than Jack.
First, Zhan Lang, who was a core member of Azure Badge, had handed over a list of members he knew about when he submitted to Great Xia.
Ouyang Shuo had kept the list in hand and asked the Shanhai Guards to monitor them and not act on it.
Secondly, the Shanhai Guards.
With this secret organization monitoring things, along with the help of the Martial Management Division and the various bailiffs, it was good that the Azure Badge members did not reveal themselves. Even if they did, they would not be able to cause much waves.
Of course, it was best if he could wipe them out.
“I’ll try my best to help to make this matter happen.” Old Chen took a clear stance.
Ouyang Shuo nodded in satisfaction before once again emphasizing, “Old Chen, the previous invitation is still valid.”
“I’ll consider it.”
This time, Old Chen did not directly reject the offer.
Regardless of whether Azure Badge managed to keep the Ottoman Dynasty or not, they would not have a place for Old Chen. On the contrary, the current Great Xia Emperor Dynasty was at the heights of its power and could use Old Chen.
To Old Chen, this choice was just a threshold.
If he crossed it, his future would be limitless.
…
Time flew and the nervous 8th month flashed past.
One would notice a very interesting matter if they took a broad look at the world.
If the world map had Great Xia as its center, the European and North America Continent that were to its sides were wrapped up in war, forming a direct contrast with the relatively peaceful Great Xia.
At the same time, Africa, which was south of Europe and South America, slowly moved from chaos to an orderly rule as a result of Great Xia’s interference.
Great Xia’s shadow covered the entire world.
With such a comparison, Great Xia’s advantages were evident.
Great Xia’s economy took advantage of the sky-high priced firearm deals and relied on a relatively stable internal environment and rich natural resources to welcome its greatest increase since the establishment of the country. Currently, its industrialization was proceeding rapidly each day.
Be it the mainland, Nanjiang, Africa, or South America, they were all developing swiftly, helping to make up for one another.
In the long-term, they would definitely be able to accumulate a huge lead over the other dynasties.
A certain point could not be overlooked. During this round of world war, there were three dynasties that made use of their special geographical positions to be unaffected.
They were the Bantu Dynasty on the south of Africa and the Persian and Arab Empire in Asia.
The one that worried Ouyang Shuo the most was the Persian Empire, his west neighbor.
The Bantu Dynasty was located at a corner, and its north side was locked down by Great Xia and the Dawson Dynasty. As a result, there was not much that they could do. It should be the backup base of Azure Badge.
The Arab Empire and the Persian Empire had a thick religious environment; they were empires that were relatively harder to conquer. If it were not for a difference in religions, these two empires might have even joined hands.
Compared to the Persian Empire, the Arab Empire’s greatest weakness was that apart from oil, natural gases, and other energy resources, it lacked decent ore mines.
Coal and iron ore were the basis of industrialization.
Since they only possessed oil and energy and lacked ore resources, the Arab Empire was unable to industrialize.
Furthermore, the Arab Empire’s territory was filled with many deserts of various sizes. The only places suitable for living were places like the Mediterranean shore, Persian Gulf shore, Red Sea shore, and Arab sea shore.
This greatly restricted the rise of the Arab Empire.
Whether having a shocking quantity of oil and natural gases was a disaster or a blessing was hard to judge.
On the contrary, the Persian Empire had all the resources necessary for industrialization and was one of the opponents Great Xia faced in their path to becoming the overlord of Asia. Moreover, there was a score to settle between the two.
Ogedai’s forces were still living really lavishly in Persia.
In this half a year, thanks to the hard work of both the Xijiang people and the Xijiang construction formation, the grain storage had slowly formed into scale and was ready for war purposes in the upcoming year.
The west side would definitely have a war.
…
On the global scale, there was also one more region that had to be mentioned – India.
Since spring, the India region internal war had grown more and more intense. Under the combined efforts of the Peacock and Gupta dynasties, the Ashoka Dynasty was being forced back.
Half a year had passed, and the Ashoka Dynasty had lost close to half of its territory. Its military had also suffered heavy casualties.
Luckily for them, the Ashoka Dynasty had deep foundations and enough grain. Furthermore, Ashoka was a king that did not want to lose; if that were not the case, he would not have fought with Great Xia to such an extent on the Tibetan battlefield.
Even then, he probably did not have enough strength to retaliate.
Based on the current situation, if the two dynasties went all out, there was a chance that they would be able to destroy the Ashoka Dynasty and split up India.
Such a matter would be detrimental to Great Xia’s strategy.
A stable, united India was not good for Great Xia’s interests.
Although half a year of chaos had greatly reduced the overall strength of India, the two player dynasties would be able to get back onto the right path with the countries huge population.
If that happened, they would definitely become Great Xia’s greatest obstacle. They would pose an even greater threat to Great Xia than the Persian Empire.
This was something that Ouyang Shuo was not willing to see. Luckily, at the end of last year, Ouyang Shuo had buried a mine.
Now, it was the time to activate it.
…
Gaia 8th year, 9th month, 5th day, Imperial Capital.
During the 9th month, the imperial capital was bustling. Especially the newly built university region, which welcomed a batch of new students. The exceptional students from the various provinces, who passed through test after test and stood out, were given the chance to learn in the imperial city.
They were the future of the Empire.
Great Xia’s education system was getting closer and closer to perfection by the day, and it could produce top-level talents.
Apart from the Capital University and the Teacher-training University, the students who came to the imperial capital to learn could choose the Technology University or the Arts College.
Along with the industrialization wave hitting, the Capital Technology University’s popularity grew in particular.
Within the Imperial Reading Room, Ouyang Shuo summoned military affairs minister Du Ruhui and Honglu Temple head Zhang Yi.
He called them here to discussed the India strategy.
“Send a secret envoy to the Ashoka Dynasty.” Ouyang Shuo said.
When Zhang Yi heard that, he asked, “May I ask what the mission is?”
“Tell Ashoka that as long as they are willing to hand over a rich ransom, we are willing to hand back the one million Ashoka army war prisoners to them.” Ouyang Shuo revealed.
During the war of Tibet, Great Xia had captured a million Ashoka Dynasty soldiers. They were disarmed and sent to build the Chuan-Tibet line and the Qing-Tibet line.
By now, the two paths were basically completed.
Throughout the process, these war prisoners were exceptionally useful and had contributed a lot.
Ouyang Shuo was not a violent ruler and instructed them not to scold or beat up these of war prisoners. They also had to ensure that the war prisoners were fed. When these war prisoners got sick, they were treated by the doctors.
All in all, apart from not having salary, they were treated the same as normal workers.
After half a year, the one million war prisoners were mostly still there.
When Du Ruhui heard that, his eyes lit up, and he said, “Your majesty wants to increase the strength of the Ashoka Dynasty to let the India war drag on?”
This was a good fit with Great Xia’s strategy.
Ouyang Shuo nodded as a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, “I want to know what interesting things will happen when the Peacock Dynasty and the Gupta Dynasty find out that the Ashoka Dynasty suddenly gained a million more troops. What kind of reaction would they have?”
“That would be remarkable.” Du Ruhui smiled.
“As for the envoy matter, the Honglu Temple will be in charge. The handover of the prisoners will be planned by the Privy Court. Remember to keep it a secret; do not let the Peacock and Gupta dynasties notice.”
“Yes, my emperor!”
Du Ruhui and Zhang Yi nodded before leaving.
